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Bangladesh says committed to December 18 vote

Bangladesh's
army-backed interim government said Saturday it remained fully committed to
hold a parliamentary election on December 18, and hoped all parties would take
part, reported Reuters.

"We remain firm in our plan to hold
the election on the due date (December 18)," government adviser (minister)
Hossain Zillur Rahman said.

He added that if a congenial atmosphere
prevailed ahead of the vote, the government would consider lifting emergency
rule, imposed after widespread political violence before scheduled elections in
January 2007.

He said the government hoped the election
would be contested by all major parties, including those led by former prime
ministers Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia.

Hasina heads the Awami League which has
said it will take part in the December 18 polls, but Khaleda's Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP) and its main ally are still undecided.

The BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami have said
emergency rule should be lifted immediately, and that leaders convicted or
arrested for alleged corruption should be able to contest the vote.

Hasina and Khaleda, who alternated as prime
minister of the south Asian country of more than 140 million people over 15
years until October 2006, were both arrested for alleged corruption, but have
been freed after nearly a year behind bars.

They are likely key contenders in the
coming polls, and without participation of their parties the results would not
be credible or acceptable, analysts and diplomats have said.